Jon Jones
Jon "Bones" Jones is the former UFC interim light-heavyweight champion and the former UFC light-heavyweight champion. His only 'loss' is to The Ultimate Fighter reality show alumni Matt Hamill by disqualification due to illegal 12x6 elbows thrown by Jones, though Jones had dominated Hamill for the entire match and had broken his nose and was mounted and very close to the referee stopping the fight. Many -- including UFC president Dana White -- considered Jones to still be unofficially undefeated. Road To The Title Jones most recently defeated Brandon Vera via TKO due to an elbow which shattered a pair of bones in the right side of Vera's face. He next faced Vladimir Matyushenko and defeated the veteran via TKO due to elbows from the mounted crucifix in the first round. He was then rumored to take his desired step up in competition to face former light-heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin. Jones dispelled this rumor after a month or so and claimed that he was next officially set to face the winner of the fight between Ryan Bader and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. Bader won the fight via unanimous decision and the fight was now official, Jones vs. Bader, for January 2011. As Jones was training for the Bader fight, he was asked as always if he wanted to fight Anderson Silva. Before the fight against Matyushenko, Jones would have humbly responded that he wasn't ready for Anderson. Now, Jones replied, "I've bathed myself in Anderson Silva. I think I'd have an advantage going into a fight with him because I've studied him so much." Jones defeated Bader via second-round guillotine choke submission. Minutes after the victory, he was offered a chance to replace his injured team-mate Rashad Evans to face light-heavyweight champion Mauricio Rua a month after the fight with Bader. Jones defeated Rua via third-round technical knockout due to a knee and punches on the ground. The victory was dominant in every way, and displayed the young Jones' seemingly limitless potential. Jones dominated Rua for nearly fifteen minutes before finishing him with a brutal sequence of punishment. The Now Generation He was next set to make his first defense against friend and former champion Rashad Evans. Jones had unfortunately torn a ligament in his right hand during the Rua bout. He pulled out about three months before the bout and was replaced by undefeated prospect Phil Davis in what was certainly considered a number-two contender match. The number-one contender would be Quinton Jackson. After Jones recovered, he signed on to defend his title for the first time against the former champion Jackson. Jones dominated Jackson completely en route to a fourth-round rear-naked choke submission victory. It was the first time that 'Rampage' Jackson had been finished in the UFC and only the second time he had ever been submitted. After the fight, Jones was again confirmed to be facing former friend and new number-one contender in former champion Rashad Evans. Instead, Evans was sidelined with a nagging hand injury and replaced by another former champion in Lyoto Machida. Jones had some early trouble with Machida before choking him unconscious with an impressive standing guillotine choke submission to end out an incredibly busy 2011. Jones' only desire after the record-breaking year was a vacation. But throughout December 2011 Jones was already rumored to be fighting a high-profile superfight against current UFC middleweight champion and possible pound-for-pound king Anderson Silva. Instead, Jones next defended his belt for the third time against Rashad Evans defeating his former friend via a dominant unanimous decision. Jones was next set to face former Strikeforce light-heavyweight champion and two-time Pride champion Dan Henderson. Henderson was injured. Former UFC middleweight title contender and Henderson teammate Chael Sonnen offered to step in on just over a week's notice but Jones refused causing the cancellation of the UFC 151 card. Jones defended his belt for the fourth time on three weeks' notice against former UFC light-heavyweight champion Vitor Belfort. After suffering early trouble from a Belfort armbar attempt, Jones dominated the action securing a fourth round americana submission victory over the black belt Belfort. Recovering from an injured arm, the newly humbled and matured champion signed to coach the seventeenth season of The Ultimate Fighter reality show against Chael Sonnen at the end of which Jones would defend his belt for the fifth time against Sonnen in April 2013. In the process of coaching the show against Sonnen, Jones also stated that -- with a victory -- by the end of 2013 he would move up to heavyweight after probably defending his belt once more in the summer in a rematch against Lyoto Machida. Jones successfully defended his belt against Sonnen with a first round technical knockout but he unfortunately badly broke his left big toe in the process. UFC commentator Joe Rogan gave Jones his post-fight interview with Jones sitting on a stool with the doctors examining him, close to unconsciousness from the pain and shock on the severe injury. With the near-disastrous defense against Sonnen, Jones tied UFC Hall of Famer Tito Ortiz's record of most UFC light-heavyweight title defenses at five. During his painstaking recovery Jones decided he would defend his title not in a Machida rematch but against Alexander Gustaffson. Jones was quoted as saying of Machida, "“I don’t want to fight Lyoto Machida. He was my lowest pay-per-view draw of last year. I don’t want to fight Lyoto again. Lyoto is high risk and low reward. He’s a tough fighter, but no one wants to buy that fight. Between Shogun, Rampage and Rashad, Lyoto was my lowest draw. Why would I want to fight someone where it’s a lose-lose situation? I won’t make money on it. And he’s a tricky fighter.” Gustafsson turned out to be Jones' toughest challenger as the champion only had a three-inch reach advantage over him. Gustafsson did the most damage to Jones of the young phenom's career, and despite winning a narrow and controversial unanimous decision to retain his title and break Tito Ortiz's UFC 205-pound title defense record with six defenses, Jones was carried out of the Octagon on a stretcher. An immediate rematch was almost a foregone conclusion. Instead, less than a week later UFC president Dana White announced that Jones would defend his title for the seventh time against seemingly unstoppable Brazilian contender Glover Teixeira. During preparation for the fight against Glover, Jones was very outspoken, from stating he would 'kill' football player Richie Incognito for racist remarks and also stating that he would ideally like to retire by age 30. Jones defeated Texeira via a dominant unanimous decision. He next signed to defend his belt for the eighth time in a rematch against Alexander Gustafsson. Unfortunately Gustafsson was injured and replaced by undefeated former Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix champion Dan Cormier. At a promotional event Jones got in Cormier's face and Cormier shoved him away prompting Jones to attack Cormier. After the brief brawl the anticipation for the fight ramped up. Unfortunately Jones was injured and the fight was postponed to early January 2015. The anticipation only grew up until then. Jones handed Cormier his first loss via a hard-fought and grueling unanimous decision. Jones would next defend his belt against the winner of a fight between Alexander Gustafsson and Anthony Johnson. Jones also next tested positive for cocaine from a December out-of-competition drug test but was not punished in any substantial way by the UFC or otherwise. Losing the Title: In Love With the Coco Johnson won the bout and a title fight between Johnson and Jones was scheduled for May 2015. Roughly a month before the bout, however, Jones was involved in a hit-and-run accident in his hometown of Albuquerque, New Mexico, in which a pregnant woman was injured. Jones turned himself in, and was stripped the next day of his UFC light-heavyweight title and suspended indefinitely from the UFC. Johnson and Dan Cormier would fight for the vacated belt. Cormier of course won it. Back in the Saddle Jones came back about a year after the hit-and-run debacle returning to fight Cormier for the belt. Unfortunately Cormier was injured not long before the fight was set to take place and he was replaced by Strikeforce veteran Ovince St. Preux. The fight would now be for the interim UFC light-heavyweight title. Jones defeated St. Preux via an appropriately dominant unanimous decision although he did show signs of understandable ring rust. Jones and Cormier were then set to fight and unify the two light-heavyweight titles as the main event of the landmark UFC 200 event. The UFC 200 Debacle And Aftermath Three days before the landmark event was set to take place Jones tested positive for multiple PEDs in a USADA out-of-competition test administered a month before. A heartbroken Jones was pulled from the event and it was possible that he could be suspended from competition for up to four years. He was replaced against Cormier by his idol Anderson Silva. Jones was scheduled for a hearing in November which would decide his punishment/suspension if any. The UFC seemed confident that he would receive little to no punishment... Meanwhile Jones was rumored to receive a shot at Cormier once again and he also called out UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic, who accepted the challenge and told UFC president Dana White to 'set it up.' Jones' November hearing did not go well at all for him as his prepared defense of tainted sexual assistance pills - used by Anderson Silva successfully in 2015 - earned him a one-year suspension from USADA. The UFC subsequently stripped Jones of his UFC interim light-heavyweight title. Fights *Jon Jones vs. Brad Bernard - The fight was the MMA debut of Jon Jones. *Jon Jones vs. Moyses Gabin *Jon Jones vs. Andre Gusmao - The fight was the UFC debut for Jones, and for Andre Gusmao as well. The fight was controversial because of several alleged groin shots by Jones. *Jon Jones vs. Stephan Bonnar - Jon Jones came into the fight undefeated, of course. *Jon Jones vs. Jake O'Brien - Jake O'Brien was cut after the fight. *Jon Jones vs. Matt Hamill - Jones came into the fight undefeated. He had an eight-and-a-half inch reach advantage and a three-inch height advantage. The fight ended in a controversial disqualification win for Matt Hamill and the first "loss" of Jones's career. *Jon Jones vs. Brandon Vera *Jon Jones vs. Ryan Bader - The fight was the first loss for Ryan Bader and with the win, Jones earned the chance to replace his injured team-mate Rashad Evans in a title fight versus light-heavyweight champion Mauricio Rua. *Jon Jones vs. Mauricio Rua - The fight was for the light-heavyweight title with Mauricio Rua defending. Jones was a late replacement for an injured Rashad Evans. *Jon Jones vs. Quinton Jackson - The fight was for the UFC light-heavyweight title with Jones defending. *Jon Jones vs. Chael Sonnen - The fight was for the UFC light-heavyweight title with Jones defending. *Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier - The fight was for the UFC light-heavyweight title with Jones defending. The fight was Dan Cormier's first loss. *Jon Jones vs. Ovince St. Preux - The fight was the return of troubled 'former' champion Jon Jones after over a year of legal troubles. Ovince St. Preux was a late replacement for injured champion Daniel Cormier and the fight was for the interim UFC light-heavyweight title. Category:UFC light-heavyweight champions Category:Light-heavyweight fighters Category:Knockout of the Night winners Category:Submission of the Night winners Category:Fight of the Night winners Category:USADA victims